


Someone's Waiting For You

by MajorMinor



Series: Tumblr One Shots [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Fluff, One Shot, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-27
Updated: 2019-05-27
Packaged: 2020-03-20 03:22:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18984223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MajorMinor/pseuds/MajorMinor
Summary: Prompt: Carol comes home late and finds Maria and Monica asleep on the couch trying to stay up for her but she ends up just tucking them into bed.





	Someone's Waiting For You

**Author's Note:**

> lesbian brain cell: activated

Carol cursed under her breath when she noticed the time. It was almost eight o’clock, she had told Maria that morning she would be home by six thirty, seven at the latest, but as usual, Carol had gotten too into her work and lost track of time. By the time she finally pulled into the driveway, it was eight thirty and the lights in the house were off. 

“Fuck.” Carol grumbled under her breath. Maria wouldn’t be angry at Carol for coming home so late, she knew how much Dr. Lawson needed her on base, but Carol still felt guilty for not keeping her word. Maternity leave was lonely, especially now with Maria going into her third trimester. Carol had tried to take time off so she could have more time with Maria, but her commanding officer had shot it down, and Carol didn’t want to risk her job pushing too hard for leave at the same time Maria was out on maternity leave. 

When she was inside, she sprinted up the stairs two at a time looking for Maria. She was usually in bed at this time now, the baby kicking always took the energy out of her, especially during these hot summer days. But when she reached the bedroom, it was empty. 

“Maria?” Carol called out. She circled the upper level of the house but Maria was nowhere to be found. She went back downstairs thinking that Maria might be putting together another weird combination pregnancy craving sandwich (Carol had stopped trying to intervene when she saw Maria eating Oreos and Kraft macaroni together). As she was walking through the dining room, she saw a faint glow coming from across the hall. 

“Maria?” Carol said again. She walked across the hall into the living room and there was Maria, stretched out on the sofa as best she could while wrapped around a body pillow. It’s impossible for Carol to not smile at the sight. She walks over to the couch and kneels beside Maria, gently brushing a strand of hair out her face,  Maria stirs gently, but doesn’t wake up. 

“C’mon you two.” Carol whispers. “Let’s get to bed.” 

Carol slips the body pillow out from Maria’s grip, turns off the tv, and carries Maria up the stairs to their bedroom.

* * *

Technically speaking, Carol wasn’t coming home late. She had actually arrived home an hours ago, but Monica’s flu hadn’t gotten any better after two days home from school. She and Maria had tried to wait it out and hope that what medicine they had in the house would take effect soon, but after two nights of waking up in rotations because of Monica’s coughing fits, one dangerously high fever, and more crying fits than Carol could keep track with, they both knew it was time to seek other options.

They had arrived at the ER around seven thirty, and by the time they saw the doctor, got a hasty prescription sent to the closest 24 hour pharmacy, and were cleared to leave, it was almost nine o’clock. Maria said that she would stay home with Monica while Carol went to the pharmacy, they had wanted to go together, but Monica was grumbling about her fever again. Carol dropped them off at home so Maria could give the girl some ice and Carol made a turnaround trip back into town. When she was officially home for the night, it was pushing ten. 

She dragged her feet up the steps of the front porch, beat down from ripping and running at work and now in the middle of the night when she should be sleeping, not worrying sick about Monica. 

“Maria? Sweetie, I got it.” Carol called out when she stepped inside, kicking her shoes off. No reply. She figured that they were both upstairs in the master bedroom. Maria had tried to object to Monica sharing the bed, not wanting to catch the flu as well, but it was useless. Each night of Monica’s flu she had found herself wedged between Maria and Carol, trying to find comfort among her coughing and wheezing. But when Carol went to their shared bedroom, the bed was empty. She went down the hall to Monica’s bedroom, and found Maria and Monica cuddled up together on the twin bed. 

Carol tipped across the room and put a hand on Maria’s shoulder. She stirred gently, trying not to wake Monica. “Hey, did you get it?” she asked.

Carol nodded and held up the paper bag from the pharmacy. “It’s a liquid medicine, thank G-d. I don’t think she could get another pill down.” 

Maria nodded. “Should we give it to her now or wait until she wakes up? I already called her out of school for tomorrow this morning.” 

Carol looked down at the small girl sleeping next to Maria. Monica was six, but the baby fat in her cheeks always made Carol think of her as the small, sticky fingered, toddler that she had been not so long ago. Monica hated it when Carol would call her ‘little baby’ but she could never see Monica as anything but the tiny, wailing, newborn she had held in her arms six years ago. 

“The doctor said the stuff he gave her should last through the night.” Carol explained. “I don’t wanna wake her up.” 

Maria nodded slowly, but her eyes were already drifting back down. She was snoring again in ten seconds. Carol chuckled softly and reached down for Monica first. She went down the hall and tucked her firmly into bed before going back for Maria.

* * *

Crashing back to Earth should have been something Carol was used to by this point, but the exhilaration of breaking through the atmosphere met with the quiet nights of the Louisiana farm was always a sensation she had yet to find words to describe. The only downside was coming back from the cold vacuum of space to the suffocating humidity of late July in Shreveport.

Carol wiped sweat off her brow as she walked up the dark path to the front porch of the house. She reached around to try and tug the zipper of her uniform down so she could cool off some, but unfortunately incredible flexibility wasn’t something that came with her powerset. Inside the house, she sighed in relief as the cool air washed over her, and she finally started to peel out of her uniform after a few moments of fumbling with the zipper. Once she was in the shorts and t-shirt she always wore underneath, she padded quietly to the kitchen. She hadn’t expected anyone to be in there, but her heart still dropped a little at the sight of the dinner dishes in the sink. 

The last time she had made a promise to Maria to be home early was seven years ago, and when she finally made it home, she had alien blood coursing through her veins and was helping a government agent and a supposed sworn enemy find a new home. When Carol had first left Earth to guide the Skrulls home, she had promised Maria to come back, although when exactly, she didn’t know. It was another three months before Carol saw Maria and Monica again. The Skrulls were settled and thanks to Carol’s defiance on Earth, and with the help of Mar-Vell’s cloaking tech, they were safe from harm. 

When she left for the second time, Maria told her yet again to come back soon. Carol promised, and felt that she could do better than the three months that she had left for. But as her life had been doing for the last couple of years, obstacles got in the way. Carol couldn’t make it back home for another seven months. The second visit was short, only two days, which broke her heart when she had to leave Monica just before Thanksgiving. But duty was always calling, and Carol wasn’t willing to put her family at risk again with the threat of a Kree invasion. 

This time, she had been certain to buy herself more time. Eight months had gone by since her last visit, and she hadn’t told Maria or Monica that she was coming. The Skrulls were safe, the Kree were at bay, and Monica was out of school for the summer.  _ Three months.  _ Carol had thought to herself the entire flight home.  _ Three months with Monica and Maria. Nothing less.   _

She grabbed a bag of chips out of the pantry and went straight to the living room. It was the one thing that had managed to not change in her frequent absences, Monica and Maria huddled together on the couch with a now empty bowl of popcorn between them, and a  _ Fresh Prince _ rerun playing on the tv. Carol was almost too afraid to wake them and let them know she was there. She wanted to soak in this picture of peace in her head for when she would eventually have to leave. Two months would be longer than any visit she had had before, but time would slip past her fingers like sand, and she’d have to be on her way again. But she knew that time was also meant to be lived in and cherished while she had it. Carol walked and knelt beside Maria, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. 

Maria shifted gently, but didn’t wake up. Carol planted soft kisses on both their foreheads before wrapping Monica in her arms and upstairs to her room. She went back for Maria, and when she had tucked her into bed, only then did she start to wake up. 

“Carol?” Maria whispered quietly, sleep still heavy in her eyes. “When did you get back?” 

“Like five minutes ago.” Carol said crawling into bed with her. “You two fell asleep on the couch.” 

Maria smiled softly. “Well we can always count on you to put us to bed, can’t we?” 

“Yeah.” Carol smiled as she kissed Maria gently on the lips. “You can count on me being around for a little while longer too.” 

If Maria heard her, she didn’t show it. She had settled down into the pillows and blinking her eyes shut again before starting to snore softly. Carol wrapped her arms around Maria and rubbed slow circles along her back. Two months of this was going to be intoxicating, Carol wasn’t sure she would ever want to leave now. But that was a worry for another time. She fell asleep with Maria’s sleeping face sending her off to sweet dreams before she woke up to even sweeter days. 


End file.
